Londoners rarely need an excuse to celebrate, but with the arrival of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dog recently, sinophiles have been flocking to Chinese restaurants to indulge in some auspicious consumption.

In the world of cookie-cutter museum restaurants dominated by the likes of catering giants like Searcys, it was a refreshing surprise to stroll into the amicable The Garden Café at the newly redeveloped Garden Museum in Lambeth.

Kensington Place an iconic institution still standing strong after 30 years of excellence! Restaurants do not survive 30 years of business in the cut-throat world of the London dining scene without doing something right.

Being part of a restaurant group and an American institution hasn’t always been beneficial to Cantina Laredo’s credentials since opening over 7 years ago, so it wasn’t a surprise to see they had conducted a significant rebranding recently along with an updated menu and a slick renovation of their dining spaces.

When you’ve worked for years under the tutelage of the great Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche and also on the ever popular TV show, Masterchef, it takes a brave soul to journey out into the notoriously fickle London restaurant scene with your first restaurant.